“It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy.”–Publius, Federalist Paper No. 9

For those who haven’t heard, Operation American Spring is a group of so-called patriots led by retired Col. Harry Riley, who are planning to demonstrate in Washington on May 16th. Their announced aim is to oust politicians they deem corrupt, and to replace them with politicians they like. OAS is claiming the authority of the Constitution and Declaration to “throw off the bonds” of an unjust government and to redress grievances. There’s just one problem: transferring power by these methods is totally unconstitutional. If we follow this lead, we can forget elections and voter sovereignty.

Any group of citizens can collect in public to air grievances and urge a course of action. They can speak to create a tension in the mind of the community. But OAS can’t claim to be restoring our constitutional republic by inviting ten million people to show up in Washington to throw people out of office outside the electoral process. Be they ten or ten million, no one voted for them to represent America; and they certainly do not represent the Tea Party, which has from the start been a constitutionalist movement. Riley and OAS represent only themselves.

In the Federalist Papers, Publius warned against exactly what OAS is, a faction: “…a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens…” (Federalist Paper No. 10).

The Founders took great pains to create a government that would prevent the changeable passions of a group in frenzy from imposing their will on the rest of the country.

Dr. Mickey Craig of Hillsdale College, puts it succinctly:

The Constitution, while it is a popular government, it is a form of popular government which recognizes the disease of popular government, and has put in place institutional arrangements that will make it less likely that a factious or tyrannical majority will form and lead to the loss of liberty for the country.

Operation American Spring is taking its cues from the populist Occupy and Arab Spring movements. The first brought destruction and anarchy to the streets of New York City and elsewhere. The second lead to the installation of one of the most tyrannical, fanatical leaders in Egypt’s recent history. This is horrifying enough. But they are preying on the well-meaning patriotism of many in the Tea Party movement, trusting that these same folks won’t see that OAS is completely antithetical to how we change power in America.

They are using the genuine and understandable frustrations of patriots who are fed up, citizens who see government out of control and want to do something to bring us back from the brink–from unsustainable debt, a government that won’t enforce our laws, a tyrannical health care policy that infringes on our liberties, and an economy and foreign policy that are in the toilet. They want to do something – something with faster results than our republican form of government allows. So here comes OAS with a call to action, miming Constitutionalism and encouraging the people to rise up and kick the corrupt bastards out via Washington sit-in.

part of the trouble is that "we can forget elections and voter sovereignty." has already been shown as the democrats continue to rig the elections with the increased numbers of illegals that they are allowing not asking to come here.

I do NOT agree with this article, to do nothing and stay silence while Obama and thugs continued with their corrupt activities against us is wrong. At least the rising of these American Brave Patroits lets these thugs in the white house know that Enough is Enough and we the citizens are no longer putting up with their lies and corruption.

We the people have protested, written letters, signed petitions beg our representatives to do something of this lawlessness and yet nothing has change, we Americans don't have a choice but to stand up and take the Country back!!!

And for this writer to say retired Col. Harry Riley is a so called Patriot is wrong, Col. Harry Riley is an American Patriot who served our Country, he is an honorable man who believes in God and our Constitution and is willing to put himself out there fighting for all of our rights including the dimwit who wrote this story.